Stretch wigs

ABSTRACT

A stretch wig adapted to fit a range of head sizes consists of an elastic mesh fabric wig base having a stiff inelastic frictional stay at the rear edge portion adapted to curve around and engage the nape of the neck to prevent the wig creeping up at the rear. Optionally inelastic stiff stays are provided at the temper portions. The base and stays have hair strands posted thereon to form a wig. The base is cup shaped and is formed by sewing together two or more segments of elastic mesh fabric on substantially radial lines.

United States Patent Spangler et al.

[151 3,654,938 51 Apr. 11, 1972 [54] STRETCH WIGS [72] Inventors: Ross Spangler; Christine Materre, both of Chicago, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Helene industries, Inc., Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Oct. 7, 1970 [2]] Appl. No.: 78,846

[52] U.S.Cl ..132/53 [5 1] Int. Cl i ..A4lg 3/00 [58] Field oiSearch ..l32/53,54,5,7

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,046,999 7/1962 Lint ..132/54 2.192.550 3/1940 Jacoby ...l32/53 3,521,648 7/1970 Capparellietal ..l32/53 3,566,889 3/1971 Cole ..l32/53 2,438,005 3/1948 Goldman ..i32/53 Primary Examiner-Russell R. Kinsey Assistant Examiner-Gregory E. McNeill Attorney-Lewis D. Konigsford [57] ABSTRACT A stretch wig adapted to fit a range of head sizes consists of an elastic mesh fabric wig base having a stiff inelastic frictional stay at the rear edge portion adapted to curve around and engage the nape of the neck to prevent the wig creeping up at the rear. Optionally inelastic stiff stays are provided at the temper portions. The base and stays have hair strands posted thereon to form a wig. The base is cup shaped and is formed by sewing together two or more segments of elastic mesh fabric on substantially radial lines.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEUAPR 11 I972 SHEET 1 [1F 2 Inveni'orS T w w a a 3 sh C STRETCH WIGS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention This invention relates to an improved stretch wig of the type having a base made of elastic mesh fabric, to which are posted the hair strands, and relates in particular to an improved base shape that allows for variations in hair styles, and means to SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided a wig comprising an elastic mesh base fabric of generally cupped or semispherical form, to the outer surface of which the hair strands are suitably posted, and the rear or nape portion of the wig has attached thereto adjacent the headband a relatively stiff inelastic, frictional stay or extension which also has hair strands thereon. When the wig is applied to the head the inelastic stay extends downwardly along the nape and becomes curved to conform to the neck and by frictionally gripping the nape and head the stay prevents the rearward edge of the wig creeping upwardly. Accordingly, a wig of this structure can have the hair at the back tapered in close proximity to the head without exposing the line of demarcation of the wig.

The cupped shape of the wig base is formed by sewing together two pieces of elastic webbing along the middle from front to back and sewing transverse seams or darts at right angles thereto near the middle which extend about two-thirds of the way to the edge. Or if desired, the base may be formed by sewing together four quadrant portions. The edge of the wig base then is bound with a suitable tape to prevent raveling of the elastic webbing at its edge. That part of the edge of the wig base which receives the rear stay or extension is not required, to stretch when the stay is attached, and accordingly the binding tape for this part is not elastic. The stiff inelastic frictional stay is attached to the rear edge of the base adjacent the standard headband line as hereinafter described in detail. The binding of the remaining edge of the wig base is an elastic tape.

In addition, if desired, the temple portions of the wig base may have stiff friction stays of inelastic material attached thereto and covered WITH hair to provide sideburn portions extending in front of the ears. These side stays may be of generally triangular shape with the apex downward and are attached to the mesh fabric over the binding tape (which has already been applied) so that the headband line extends generally along the base of the triangle. The overlap of the side extensions on the wig base may be of any desired shape, and preferably are triangular. Vertical stays of inelastic material may be attached on the inside of the temple stay to prevent the lower edge of the temple stay from curling outward.

The inelastic mesh friction stays at the temple and rear may be made of woven nylon fibers or cotton netting threads stiffened by coating with acrylic lacquer or melamine resin solution or other material. Other suitable materials for the stay are woven cloth of vinyl fibers such as Vinyon. The selected material should be resistant to water and alcohol. General but not exact measurement of the stiffness of the material can be made by measurement on a strip 3 /2 by 2 inches. For this purpose the test strip is supported on a base to provide an over hand of 3 inches. A strip of preferred stiffness deflects by its own weight in the range of 7% to the angle being measured between the strip and the horizontal extension of the support line.

The standard headband measurement is taken across the front of the hair line extending around the head above the ears at a distance of about one-fourth inch above the ears, and across the occipital bone. A stretch wig is intended to fit more than one size headband and accordingly, the wig base headband should be so constructed as to allow sufficient stretch at some one or more locations along the headband to accommodate the desired range of size of heads. We have found a stretch mesh fabric capable of expanding to about percent of its original unstretched size provides the desired wig base in expanded position, and without excessive fullness in relaxed position. Thus, a wig base having a headband of 2 1 V2 inches in circumference can be expanded to fit a headband size 23% inches and all intermediate sizes and yet not have undesired fullness or exert excessive compression on the head of the wearer.

In the wig of the present invention the wig base headband conforms generally to the standard headband for about twothirds of the circumference, and the rear third of the wig base circumference, which receives the rear stay, recedes from the standard headband line so as to avoid excessive fullness of material at the rear when the rear stay is attached. The wig base thus may be regarded as having its edge conforming generally to the hair line, with the rear stay being attached at its upper edge adjacent the headband line and its lower edge forming the rear portion of the hair line. Although the inelastic rear extension and temple stays do not allow stretching of the wig base where they are attached, the remaining elastic wig base and headband is not restrained and can stretch sufficiently to accommodate the range of headband sizes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention is described in greater detail in the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the wig base showing the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the rear stay in plan, and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic side view of a posted wig.

Referring to the drawing, the wig base 1 is in the form of a spherical cap or inverted cup shape of a size conforming to a standard wig head and is made of an elastic textile material. A suitable textile material is made from a yarn consisting of a rubber thread surrounded by a braided nylon web, the yarn being woven into an elastic cloth. Such textile material is commonly used in making womens stretch girdles. Preferably the spherical wig base is built up of two halves 2 and 3 sewn together at seam 4 along a median front to rear line. Sewn darts 5 on each side of the middle seam may be provided, only one such dart being shown.

The edge 6 of the wig base conforms generally to the standard headband outline, except where the wig base edge is cut away at 7. The edge of this cut away part 7 is bound with an inelastic tape (not shown), and the remainder of the edge 6 of the wig base is bound with an elastic tape 9. Such elastic tape is commercially available and need not be described in detail. The rear edge 7 receives the rear stay 8 which becomes part of the wig. This extension may be about 6% inches long and about 1% to 2% inches high, the preferred height being about 2% inches, and is of general trapezoid form, and the standard headband line shown broken at 10 generally bisects this stay at the middle rear. The stay is sewed to the rear portion with the longer edge of the stay at the top and the stay has an overlap indicated at a of about three-fourths to 1 inch on the wig base and thus constitutes a continuation of the wig base. A preferred form of stay 8 is shown in FIG. 3 and has a longer edge or base 11, a shorter edge 12 and angular sides 13, 13'. Preferably, the edges of the stay are bound by a suitable ribbon before the stay is attached to the wig base.

If desired, temple stays 14 may be provided at the two sides to assist in holding the wig edges closely adjacent the temples.

The temple stay is in the form of a rectangle sewn to the wig base so that the standard headband line 6 extends diagonally across the rectangle. This shape is preferred as it provides a triangular overlap portion 17 of the stay, but the overlap portion may be of any other desired shape. A diagonal reinforcement in the form of an inelastic ribbon is sewn across the other pair of comers, and prevents the lower comer 15 of the temple stay from curling outward. The entire stay may be bound with inelastic ribbon at 16.

A preferred material for making the rear stay and temple stays is woven nylon mesh cloth impregnated with a 0.5 percent solution of melamine resin, the recess solution being squeezed out, after which the mesh cloth is dried.

The hair weft is posted to the temple and rear stays so as to conceal the stays. A weft is a strip of hairs sewn side by side and may be attached to the wig base in any desired pattern. As shown in FIG. 4 the hair weft 18 is posted to the base in a continuous spiral form terminating at the top or crown as the center. The hair wefts 19, 19a, etc., are posted to the wig base and are generally horseshoe-shaped terminating at the front headband. These wefts are posted across the temple stays 14 and across the rear stay 8 so these become part of the hair pattern of the wig. The hair is diagrammatically shown at 21 and the front edge is hand tied as diagrammatically shown at 22. A comb may be attached at the front in usual manner to hold the wig in place.

When the wig is worn, the temple stays 14 are positioned in front of the ears, and the wig conforms generally to the curvature of the head of the wearer, with the rear stay 8 covering the nape of the neck. The stitching involved in posting the hair weft horizontally across the rear stay causes lines of weakness which facilitates curvature of the stay 8 about a horizontal axis. However, such lines of weakness are not essential. Although those sections of the headband 6 where the temple stays 14 are attached, and the section 7 which receives the rear stay are restrained from stretching, the remaining sections of the headband and the area of the wig cap in general can stretch sufficiently to accommodate different headband sizes and different head shapes of the wearer. The elasticity of the wig base, (including the headband portion) causes the rear 8 to curve and generally conform to the head and nape portion of the wearer covered thereby and grip the head so as to resist the rear edge riding upward.

We claim:

1. A wig comprising a generally inverted cup shaped wig base having its edge conforming generally to the hair line, a stay band portion of said wig base of inelastic bendable friction material located at the rear portion with its lower edge forming a rear hair line edge, said band extending for about one third of the circumference of the wig base, and said band being about 1 /2 to 2% inches wide and tapering upwardly to its line of attachment adjacent the standard headband circle to the remaining portion of the wig base, the remaining portion of the wig base being elastic, and providing at least an elastic portion of its edge to allow the wig to accommodate different head sizes and engage the stay band portion under the occipital area of the wearer to resist upward creeping of the wig at the rear, and hair wefts posted on the wig base including the stay band portion.

2. A wig as specified in claim 1 wherein each temple stay has generally vertically extending stays to restrain outward curling of the temple stay.

3. A wig as specified in claim 1 wherein the wig base is joined by a seam at the median line front to rear, and by seams extending at right angles to the median seam, the stay being of generally trapezoid form with the longer base attached to the wig base, and the hair extending continuously across the wig base and stay.

4. A wig as specified in claim 1 having temple stays of inelastic frictional material extending downwardly from the headband edge adjacent the temple areas.

5. A wig as specified in claim 4 wherein the temple stays are generally rectangular with a diagonal thereof generally conforming to the headbanded e.

6. A wig as specified in c arm 4 wherein the hair wefts extend continuously across the wig base and temple stays. 

1. A wig comprising a generally inverted cup shaped wig base having its edge conforming generally to the hair line, a stay band portion Of said wig base of inelastic bendable friction material located at the rear portion with its lower edge forming a rear hair line edge, said band extending for about one third of the circumference of the wig base, and said band being about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches wide and tapering upwardly to its line of attachment adjacent the standard headband circle to the remaining portion of the wig base, the remaining portion of the wig base being elastic, and providing at least an elastic portion of its edge to allow the wig to accommodate different head sizes and engage the stay band portion under the occipital area of the wearer to resist upward creeping of the wig at the rear, and hair wefts posted on the wig base including the stay band portion.
 2. A wig as specified in claim 1 wherein each temple stay has generally vertically extending stays to restrain outward curling of the temple stay.
 3. A wig as specified in claim 1 wherein the wig base is joined by a seam at the median line front to rear, and by seams extending at right angles to the median seam, the stay being of generally trapezoid form with the longer base attached to the wig base, and the hair extending continuously across the wig base and stay.
 4. A wig as specified in claim 1 having temple stays of inelastic frictional material extending downwardly from the headband edge adjacent the temple areas.
 5. A wig as specified in claim 4 wherein the temple stays are generally rectangular with a diagonal thereof generally conforming to the headband edge.
 6. A wig as specified in claim 4 wherein the hair wefts extend continuously across the wig base and temple stays. 